Chapter 41. Questioning Why I Treated You All as Family, Yet You…

“This is the reason the Regent demolished my mansion twice. There’s something I don’t know if I should mention. Counting carefully, my National Teacher’s mansion has been demolished three times, all because of you, Your Highness.”

Gu Sui placed one hand against his forehead, the corner of his mouth pulling into a self-mocking smile.

“All because of me?”

Wan Qi Xingyin’s voice lowered slightly: “I don’t mean to blame Your Highness. I just hope that after you return, you can persuade the General and the Regent to be more calm when facing issues, and not demolish my mansion at every turn.”

Gu Sui took a deep breath. The intense emotional fluctuation made his throat tighten, and his words came out somewhat broken.

“I understand.”

Gu Sui stood up to leave.

His steps were unsteady, carrying a sense of panic. As he descended the stairs, he slipped, fortunately caught by Sui Yu and Yun Mu who were waiting outside the Star-Gazing Pavilion.

“Young Master!”

Gu Sui shook his slightly dizzy head, the dazzling sunlight reflecting in those deep peach blossom eyes.

Gu Sui steadied himself and continued walking out without a word.

Sui Yu and Yun Mu, not understanding the situation, hurriedly followed, their hearts filled with worry.

Inside the Star-Gazing Pavilion, Wan Qi Xingyin, vaguely sensing something off about Gu Sui, furrowed her brow slightly.

“How could his emotions fluctuate so dramatically? Did I say something wrong?”

She suddenly felt a sense of foreboding in her heart.

“Master!”

Fu Bai, having changed into clean clothes, excitedly rushed into the Star-Gazing Pavilion. He went straight behind the bamboo curtain, knelt beside her, and began to brew tea for her.

Wan Qi Xingyin lightly lifted her eyelids, her usually calm eyes trembling slightly, but she didn’t stop his actions.

“Why did you suddenly come to the capital?”

Fu Bai: “It’s because I knew Master was in the capital. If it weren’t for Master saving me before, I would have been dead long ago. Shouldn’t I repay this life-saving kindness?”

The lively young man said with a grinning face. Wan Qi Xingyin gave him a tap with her iron ruyi.

“Still don’t know how to behave?”

Fu Bai covered his little head, deflated.

“I know, Master. I really didn’t know he was the Prince Consort, and I’ve never flipped a carriage before. He was just too tricky.”

Fu Bai’s voice grew smaller and smaller as he spoke. Wan Qi Xingyin couldn’t help but ask.

“What exactly did you say to him?”

“Just the usual stuff, saying some nice things. Normally, people would be full of hope for the future and feel happy, right? But he, before I could even finish talking, wanted to report me to the authorities.”

“With his fate, for you to say such things to him, you really are a fearless newborn calf.”

Fu Bai smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head, mumbling.

“I was just trying to make a living. Besides, one thing I said wasn’t wrong. He really does have noble people helping him in his fate. Otherwise, with that early death face of his, how could he have lived until now?”

“Enough, mind your words.”

“Oh, Master, please have your tea.”

*

At the Regent’s mansion, Mu Jiulu had been quite busy today, only returning to the mansion at dusk.

When she arrived at Weirui Courtyard, she noticed that Sui Yu and Yun Mu, standing guard at the door, seemed a bit off.

Mu Jiulu’s brows furrowed: “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Sui Yu: “The Young Master hasn’t left his room since he returned this afternoon. He doesn’t respond when we knock. We don’t know what’s wrong.”

Yun Mu: “It was after seeing that bowl of radish soup at the Ministry of Rites that the Young Master started acting strange. I said the Young Master couldn’t drink radish soup, and sure enough, something went wrong after he drank it.”

Mu Jiulu’s heart skipped a beat, her hand hanging at her side suddenly clenching.

She no longer paid attention to Sui Yu and Yun Mu. She pushed open the door, strode to the bed, and saw the young man wrapped up against the wall.

“Gu Sui.”

Mu Jiulu called out softly, her heart in her throat. She tentatively reached out to try and lift the blanket covering him, but failed because he was gripping it too tightly.

“I don’t want to see you. Get out.”

His voice was hoarse to a certain degree, and taut like a string. The cold calmness forcibly suppressing anger sounded somewhat oppressive, easily disturbing Mu Jiulu’s state of mind.

Her palm was ice-cold, a shadow flashing through her dark eyes.

“Gu Sui, if there’s anything, tell me. Don’t be like this, okay?”

Her voice was like floating jade. Gu Sui, enveloping himself in darkness, felt a twinge in his heart.

He didn’t know how to face her now.

He liked her, but she had lied to him, had been lying to him since he first came to this world.

Moreover, the reason he came to this world was because of her.

Gu Sui had spent the entire afternoon recalling their past together – her gentleness, her doting, and her meticulous care and companionship in recent times.

He wanted to use her goodness to dispel everything, but he still couldn’t get over the fact that she had lied to him.

Seeing that he still refused to speak after a long while, the unease in Mu Jiulu’s eyes grew heavier.

She knelt halfway on the bed, forcefully pulled off the blanket covering him, and embraced him in her arms. Only then did she fill some of the emptiness in her heart.

Gu Sui struggled, pushing hard against her shoulders, his eyes crimson, sobbing out in anger.

“Mu Jiulu!”

No matter how he struggled, he couldn’t break free from her embrace. In his anger, he bit down on her shoulder.

“Hiss.”

A flicker of pain passed through Mu Jiulu’s pale brows, but she refused to let go no matter what.

“Why did you lie to me? I hate you so much!”

Gu Sui’s rationality seemed to snap, his body trembling slightly in her grip. His suppressed cries caused a rare display of panic and helplessness to appear on Mu Jiulu.

She hurriedly loosened her hold on him slightly, but her right arm still maintained a posture of embracing him. Her left hand carefully explored the corner of his eye.

“Gu Sui…”

Slap, Gu Sui swatted her hand away. Mu Jiulu felt a sudden pain in her heart.

“You remembered everything. You knew who I was. You forced Wan Qi Xingyin to bring me to this world, yet you pretended not to know me. Mu Jiulu, did you enjoy playing with me?”

Gu Sui stared at her, his voice gritting out from dry lips. Every word was like a sharp blade, scraping across every inch of her skin.

Mu Jiulu’s eyes trembled violently: “I didn’t mean to play with you, Gu Sui, listen to me!”

“Listen to what? At Yulu Tower, wasn’t it you who said we weren’t familiar? The one pretending to have amnesia, then playing hard to get, wasn’t that you?”

Mu Jiulu’s face suddenly stiffened, a trace of near-collapse hidden at her temples.

“I… I didn’t mean to.”

Gu Sui laughed coldly in anger: “But you did lie to me!”

“But you were the one who wanted to break up with me first, Gu Sui. Do you know how I spent the year after I came back? I was angry to the point of madness, and I still didn’t know why you would do this!”

Mu Jiulu spoke rapidly, her bitter voice drifting past his ears. Gu Sui lowered his eyes, his misty eyelashes trembling.

Mu Jiulu cupped his face with both hands, looking deeply at him.

“I finally found you again. This time, of course I couldn’t make the same mistake, so I lied to you saying I didn’t remember.

Gu Sui, I just wanted you to realize your own heart. You love me, you don’t really want to be apart from me, right? You said yourself that last time was just a moment of impulse, so this time, don’t be impulsive again, okay?”

“You were angry about the breakup, why didn’t you just tell me? Why did you have to lie to me!”

Gu Sui’s eyes were filled with angry tears, which he strongly held back from falling. A crack tore through Mu Jiulu’s eyes.

Born as a princess, when had Mu Jiulu ever been questioned like this? She had explained, yet he was still relentless. At this moment, she couldn’t help but feel some anger.

“If I had told you, would you have told me the reason? You didn’t want to say anything at all. Gu Sui, what right do you have to blame me entirely!”

Gu Sui clenched his fists tightly. Hearing these words, his eyes grew even more crimson, something thick and suppressed seeming to roll in their depths.

Mu Jiulu felt immense regret the moment she finished speaking those words. Now, seeing his beautiful peach blossom eyes become shattered, it was as if someone was squeezing her heart, causing waves of piercing pain.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. I was wrong, Gu Sui, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have lied to you. Don’t be like this.”

Mu Jiulu embraced him tightly again. This time, Gu Sui didn’t struggle violently, but the icy voice coming from his mouth made Mu Jiulu’s heart race anxiously.

“Why did I break up with you… It was my impulse, but why was I impulsive?”

“I don’t think I ever introduced you to Gu Shi, my birth mother.”

“She was originally a gentle, kind, and cultured girl, but she was tricked into marriage. After I was born, that man disappeared without a trace, and she raised me alone.

I actually always loved her, she was my mother after all. However, when I was six years old, she was tricked into gambling for the first time, and from then on, it was unstoppable.

The year I turned fifteen, her creditors found me. I shouldered over a million in debt, but even then, I never thought about severing ties with her.

Until a year ago.”

Gu Sui’s voice recounted flatly, and Mu Jiulu remembered his tearful, aggrieved appearance when he was sick. Her eyes filled with deep sympathy.

“Stop, Gu Sui. I was wrong. I won’t hold the breakup against you anymore. Please stop talking.”

Gu Sui was unmoved. His eyes had already lost their luster, leaving only hatred.

“A year ago, Gu Shi, who hadn’t appeared for a long time, came to me. Using the excuse that my grandfather was ill, she tricked me out of fifty thousand yuan that was about to be used to repay debts, and then disappeared without a trace.

Heh, this is how she treated me. She treated my trust like garbage. As the debt repayment date drew closer, I desperately tried to raise money during that time.

I was so busy I didn’t come home for days. You kept urging me to come back, asking what I was doing. How could I want to tell you I had such a disgraceful mother, that I had so many burdens? I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid of dragging you down.

It was because she tricked me that I fell into such a dire situation. Then I drowned my sorrows in alcohol, and in a moment of impulse, broke up with you. It was all because of her!”

“Alright, let’s not think about it anymore. Let’s not think about these things, okay? I don’t want to know anymore. I just want you to be okay.”

Mu Jiulu spoke almost pleadingly. Gu Sui let out a cold laugh.

“She is my mother, you are my lover. I treated you all as family, but why, why must you lie to me! Why!”

Gu Sui suddenly burst out with unparalleled strength, violently pushing away Mu Jiulu who was embracing him, nearly causing her to fall to the ground.

Mu Jiulu, barely steadying herself, looked at the young man before her gritting his teeth, tears about to fall from his eyes. Panic and helplessness enveloped her, her face turning pale.

“Gu Sui…”

“I don’t want to see you. Leave!”

Mu Jiulu’s jaw tightened, her lips pressed into a straight line.

“You can’t be like this, Gu Sui. You were the one who approached me first. It’s always like this. You can’t just approach me and then coldly push me away. Gu Sui, this isn’t fair.”

“You never told me anything. How was I supposed to know what you were afraid of? I shouldn’t have lied to you, but you can’t just sentence me to death without giving me any chance!”

Mu Jiulu forced herself to calm down and said these words to Gu Sui. The young man in the midst of losing control finally showed some reaction, a crack appearing in the obstinacy and stubbornness in his eyes.